Picnic in paradise

Picnic in paradise...................................................................................................................................1
Roads.................................................................................................................................................2
Advocacy........................................................................................................................................2
Scrooge and the highway to hell....................................................................................................2
Farcerail.............................................................................................................................................3
Unfair.............................................................................................................................................3
A welcome mat..............................................................................................................................3
Deserves........................................................................................................................................4
Gong a go go?................................................................................................................................4
The Midas touch............................................................................................................................5
After the ‘gold’ rush.......................................................................................................................5
More Midas...................................................................................................................................5
McNaughton rule...........................................................................................................................6
Judge Jimmy......................................................................................................................................6
Ahoy hairbrains!............................................................................................................................6
Birds of omen................................................................................................................................7
Mutiny!..........................................................................................................................................7
Admiralty jurisdiction....................................................................................................................7
Neither hair nor otiose..................................................................................................................8
Aplomb-shell......................................................................................................................................8
Picnic.................................................................................................................................................9

If you’re at Treasury today

You’re in for a big surprise
If you pass Finance on the way
You won’t quite believe your eyes

For every dud that ever there was

Is in the queue for certain because
Election time is infrastructure’s picnic

Picnic time for big projects

Taxpayers get a terrible time from it
Spivs have caught them unaware
As politicians ply some bad bullshit
Officials gaily gad about
Saying its ok with never the slightest care
Thank God we don’t see what’s really going on
As the load is short of bricks up there

1
Roads
Advocacy
Remember Little Turtle’s section on transport coordination. Where Roads and Maritime invited the
‘plaintiff’ to express interest in tendering for a road project only for a Minister to slap down both:

(the plaintiff) ‘can waste their time and money all they like…… these guys have shown their
performance just isn’t good enough.’i

News: the plaintiff won a road related contract for the Department of Health. ii

Farsouthcoasters hope same Minister does better in lobbying for duplication of the once-in-a-while
almost busy Princes Highway south o’Nowra. Alleged motivation: speculation of going Federal?
Nonono. Rather: involvement in a bad car crash in 2011, Tomakin Rd Mogo. Isn’t that a side road? iii

No matter. Who fixes the highway befriends the beagle (kennel 2537). So long as they pay the bill.

Scrooge and the highway to hell

An admonition: ‘The road to hell is paved with ….. subsidies’. Even well-intentioned subsidies. The
Australian, of course, 30 Nov.

From an SCG Trustee. You might recall the Trust - the ‘not-a-private-club’ with decade + long waiting
list, calling itself the most sought after in Sydney – wants, at taxpayer expense, to knock-down /
rebuild facilities it manages – Sydney Football Stadium aka the ‘Deathtrap’. Crowd safety concerns.
Concerns grave enough to tax you $732m, but not prevent record crowds several times this year. iv

NSW Opposition Leader Daley in effect said if elected to paradise’s throne: ‘no gift’. Rather, he’ll
organise a loan for the Trust if they think it etc. such a good idea, ‘business case’ and all. Implying: it
will be on their heads if they demolish the joint to try to lock him in. Scrooge or what? v

A position described as ‘breathtaking ignorance’ by another – long serving - SCG Trustee and radio
host who said it is a not-for-profit public organisation. With the full headline wrongly saying the
Opposition has a ‘no stadium plan’.

Breathtaking indeed. One word for various positions in this debate.

The Trust is a profitable non-profit - $2m pa. And ignorance might be no bad thing – it may allow
trustees to avoid eternal peril. A business-like business case to support a loan? Repayment of which,
admonition implies, avoids damnation as Trustees skip off – not along - the Government’s pro-
offered primrose path. As they scrupulously avoid the road to where a $732m gift must lead. vi

Why not revise their business case to differentiate gift from subsidy: Gift starts with ‘g’ rather than
‘s’? Or make ‘threats’ like the NRL Grand Final – for yonks played 20km west of the deathtrap at
facilities not run by the ‘not-a-private-club’ – will move? Somewhere. vii

To Melbourne? Or Brisbane? The latter would be handy - they must almost be up to ‘73 by now.
Allowing replay and right result from Cliff & Tommy v. Bozo and misc. forces of evil. viii

How about: TV coverage might suffer / not improve? Channel 9? By the way, how is the cricket? ix

2
Or is all lost? Trust Chair reportedly said there is Buckley’s business would lend the Trust $730m.
Minister then signed a contract – yet to be seen - for demolition /construction. Phoenix is go! x

A Channel 9 personality crow call – why the smell of panic? A poll showing near 60% of NSW
residents against the gift? Cash-in before the punters get their say via the ballot box? xi

Given that, and sought sums, might the road Sydney’s stadium Schumpeters find themselves on be
better called a highway? We await AccaDacca headlining the gala opening with Highway to Hell. xii

Before we go: is Canberra heaven? The beagle wants to know where the road paved with taxes - the
antonym of subsidies – leads? One for the admonishers or the Australian’s cryptic crossword.

Farcerail
Unfair
4 December 2018, an auspicious day. Then NSW Premier said her Government will ‘deliver a fast rail
network slashing travel times across the State.' Lines from Big Town to Port Macquarie, Nowra,
Canberra, Parkes (Elvis Fest inspired no doubt). Newcastle in an hour. Work to commence in the
next term (apt) and won’t wait for the Commonwealth – NSW will go it alone! Britspert to advise. xiii

High-speed rail is go. NSW is go go (Don’t ….). Even with announced fabrications to shock gunzels. xiv

$4.6m study to cremate the concept after triumphant re-election of politicians with visions.

An idea immediately, universally derided. The Daily Telegraph – normally a Government booster by
e.g. annual traducements of great engineer John Bradfield - carried a ‘farce rail’ headline. And a
$100bn cost and negative editorial: ‘Premier goes long and wrong’. Unfair.xv

Others called it an election stunt. One commentator – obviously not a student of the form – asked
why the Premier would bother to announce anything so unbelievable, claiming the Deputy Premier
(Minister for Regional NSW) was steering clear of the issue. More from him later. Unfair. xvi

Other criticisms: the library of studies condemning high-speed rail projects in Australia; if it can’t deal
with a few km of light rail in Sydney there is no chance the Government could handle hundreds of km
of high-speed rail; the plan was stolen from a TV satire. Unfair, mostly.xvii

Many have seen this before and know where it ends – nowhere. True, but unfair. To proper rail
proposals. To other farces. And most of all in not recognising the talents on display in Macquarie St.

Talents who just accepted some of $20m in Commonwealth funds to study faster rail to (almost)
Newcastle. Faster being 2-hours travel time – which railway people last year proved could be done
today cf. Hamilton Dawdler. Details at the Commonwealth Department’s website since October. xviii

Talent who promise travel time from Canberra to Sydney’s CBD less than a commute from Liverpool,
some 240km closer. And Canberra-Sydney passengers get seats and won’t need to change trains.

Speaking of Liverpool etc. while reports don’t have his portfolio involved in the fast train fantasy –
regrettably - how about a hooray anyhow for the Minister for Western Sydney? Who? You ask. The
one putting circa $2000m - much from Liverpool and Western Sydney taxes - to knock down/rebuild
stadiums in Eastern Sydney?

3
A welcome mat
Australia’s high-speed rail imbroglio (!) is bipartisan and at both levels of Government.

Federal Labor says it wants to see a high-speed rail authority. xix

Wastrels in Canberra can put spike to wheel on that. Build on achievements of the $20m study
sponsored by the Rudd/Gillard Government which was at pains to put idiotic views.xx

Beagle tip: Comrades, want to see a high-speed rail authority? Get yourselves passports, follow Dick
Whittington and trek to London. And learn what locals mean by the expression: ‘leave it out’. xxi

By world standards Australian cities, even Big Town, are big in area but not population. Our cities are
not crowded and most are far apart from each other. Not ideal conditions for continental scale high-
speed rail. And politicians are whipping-up scares to keep it thus.

Yet it is Xmas so the beagle puts on a happy face, throws down the welcome mat and suggests some
Christmas cheer for our Britspert who is missing Old Dart’s panto season. xxii

Tommy Cat or Widow Twankey might be exclusive to Blighty, but Big Town – and toytown for that
matter – does put on a first-class ‘Magic Train’. Our Britspert can join in: boo and hiss congestion-
causing-migrants, yell ‘Oh-No©! behind you!’. And cheer the visionary heroes with their Magic Train.
Magic Train is looming, looming, looming ever so fast – then puff! magically disappears until just
before the next election.

Leaving an infrastructure gap! Even without migrants.

Before moving on, an apology. In Little Turtle we said the Premier had only done half the job of
distraction and omitted the usual never-to-happen transport plan circus. Called that one too early. A
few verses of atonement:

Don’t dare we go to work today

There’re migrants all around
Causing road and rail delays
Like Premiers propound

So our dumb leaders weak and small

Have told us all to heed their call
To vote for them and infrastructure’s picnic

Deserves
Readers might recall the beagle saying density reasons make Newcastle and Wollongong stand out
candidates for faster rail in NSW. Geelong in Victoria. Nothing else is close. xxiii

For example, faster rail to Wollongong is more than a dozen times better prospect than to Bathurst /
Orange. Even ignoring their 155km shorter routes, vastly lower costs and much better travel times.

Aha! You say - grow inland cities. Fair enough – the beagle will look at that point when the
proponents of say Orange-Bathurst high-speed rail produce their plan for a population of 775,000
people. A population where it might deserve the same fast rail attention as Newcastle.

4
Yet as Little Bill found out in Big Whiskey, when it comes to Big Town rail policy deserves got nothing
to do with it.xxiv

Gong a go go?
Sometime in the foreseeable future there will be a need to tunnel /replace the Illawarra line (to
Wollongong etc) from Waterfall to a dog friendly beach at Bulli. Two words: Seacliff Bridge. xxv

A long tunnel. Perhaps not well suited to freight trains using the line to get to Port Kembla. A port
privatised, expecting – custom and usage etc. – freight trains to continue. Explaining why ‘Oh No!’
(©see below) doesn’t go to Hurstville – as that would have cut freight and stuffed the port. Despite
Sydney’s Rail Future showing ‘Oh No ©’ going to Hurstville. Top plan that. xxvi

Seacliff etc. means the rail line Maldon (near Campbelltown) - Dombarton (near Wollongong) will be
necessary after all. Despite best efforts to sink it with neither trace nor reason. A legendary project
due to its achievement of the only thumbs-down ever awarded by Infrastructure Australia. And
because two groups of officials didn’t like it – because the ‘proponents’ were in fact opponents? xxvii

And if Maldon-Dombarton is solved, so will be Sydney’s real port problem. The real problem of
industrial areas moving further from the port and closer to Kembla. Meaning the NSW freight
strategy can and should be ditched now. Bring on that Gong a go go.

The Midas touch

Recall the finale in the beagle’s version of Midas? The gods answer to the King’s plea: “please don’t
let everything I touch turn to gold”? They turned everything to shit instead. The beagle’s Xmas
wish is for Dame Shirley Bassey to redo Goldfinger with salutary words. xxviii

After the ‘gold’ rush

Just like its touch re transport to south-west Sydney / Badgerys Creek, the NSW Government is
Midas-ing its own alleged high-speed rail intentions. They oft say: ‘gold’. But it doesn’t smell like it.

Case study 1: The Newcastle 2km or so light rail project closed the line into the city centre reducing
the potential for faster rail.xxix

Interested masochists might also review the Commonwealth Department’s ‘study’ (above). And with
grim satisfaction note it puts a high-speed rail station tens of km west of the city. Top idea Canberra
types. How about terminating trains at a vacant lot near Kingston rather than in Civic?

Oh, you’ve done that already.

More Midas
That is nothing compared with Case study 2: Big Town problems for Magic Train.

To explain: long ago a player in the Raiders backline was known to Sieffert regulars as ‘oh no’.
Because he’d almost invariably drop the ball when in the clear. Unlike Loz, Badge or Big Mal.

For us: ‘Oh No!’ rhymes with? Lets © that and put it in the ‘educational’ material. xxx

If Midas had asked for a train, the gods would have delivered this.

5
In Sydney, ‘Oh-No! ©’ may negate all potential routes for faster (or high-speed) rail into the CBD.

Across the harbour. Through the CBD. By tiny tunnels? A mischievous alignment? Who knows?
Can’t wait for the inevitable Special Commission of Inquiry to look at this. xxxi

And lo, ‘Oh-No! ©’ may also have designed-out most routes into the central metropolitan area.
Business interests warned – as early as 2012 – about this.

How about the following fast trains: Newcastle-Hornsby? Canberra-Campbelltown? Orange-

Penrith? None to the CBD. None to Parramatta. None to the airports. Because as Commonwealth
and State officials told us in writing, twice: single and double-deck trains cannot share tracks. Let’s
hear the scuttlebutt about this.xxxii

And if the Western Sydney ‘dud deal’ goes ahead, faster rail from the southwest or through Badgerys
Creek airport would also be gone. Gold?

McNaughton rule
It is always good for we the public to get perspective from other than colonial rough-trade. To hear
from a Britspert – while Britain continues to exist. xxxiii

Hence to the $4.6m study man - distinguished Professor Andrew HSR-2 McNaughton: again,
welcome to the shores of Botany Bay! And to our down-under panto of Magic Train. xxxiv

Prof: be aware the Cap’n Cooks to your Arthur Phillip didn’t always please HM’s Colonial Gumment.

For example, in 2008, the Sydney Morning Herald told of a ‘buried’ report from a ‘world-leading’
expert who came out for a cap’n’s at a metro rail plan. Said report ‘demolishes’ the proposal for a
north-west metro as a ‘disaster’. A proposal much – the Telegraph said uncannily – like ‘Oh-No! ©’.

In 2012, international experts had another butcher’s and suggested a very different approach to
metro than ‘Oh-No! ©’. They also repudiated Government claims about capacity etc. A repudiation
about which all and sundry have done their best to forget - their best being quite good enough. xxxv

Were these warnings properly heeded we might have avoided the ‘Oh-No! ©’ problems now facing
NSW. And a Magic Train might not have been just a panto stunt by electoral desperadoes.

Let’s hope the distinguished professor brings a well measured rule to the mess. That he proves to be
as independent but more effective than his illustrious predecessors in telling NSW about what to do.

If not, our modern-day Midas’ might contemplate relying more on M’Naghten (not a typo) when it
comes to Commission of Inquiry time. Speaking of which……

Judge Jimmy
Real cases. Real people. Judge Jimmy. Serious folk should skip this and go to the Jade Beagle ‘when
the hare-brained beats the otiose’ (almost forthcoming).

Others read on.

6
Ahoy hairbrains!
Public inquiry seen from the fo’c’sle sir! To wit: former NSW Opposition Leader proposing a judicial
inquiry into WestConnex and Sydney Light Rail. The new Opposition Leader wants public inquiries
into major infrastructure proposals.xxxvi

The NSW Transport Minister reportedly called this a ‘hairbrained idea’ as projects are supposedly
already subject to independent oversight. Spelling erros later. His other errors first. xxxvii

His Government’s projects – road, rail, light rail, stadiums - are contentious to say the least. Official
information is contradictory. Many stated reasons are irrational. Reasonable options overlooked.
Expert advice ignored. The public not told about pivotal matters. xxxviii
Birds of omen
Arrrrr but there be independent o’sight already lads? Nay! Parlay first:

Whether public infrastructure projects go ahead should be decided by elected Governments.

Accountability for such decisions requires Parliament to be openly informed in an authoritative and
timely manner of: motivations, effects and costs. Among the reasons: costs and consequences of
projects may be hidden until they are irreversible and / or are unable to be considered by the
electorate. The issues at stake go beyond money – even the north of the $50billion involved in NSW.

Advisers such as Infrastructure Australia summarise their view of whether some projects are birds of
good or ill omen. When asked by State Governments. Only some proposals not all. Only some
omens, not all. Summaries only. Their considerations are not public. They do not call submissions,
take evidence or examine witnesses. Reliance on untested information from (Government)
proponents means their assessments are not relevantly independent. xxxix

Assessments of critical NSW projects have not answered THE questions. Have they even tried?
Some - Infrastructure Australia’s treatment of Westconnex and Metro – are laughable. xl

The result: birds unknown. Some suspiciously like dead albatrosses aboard the ship of State.
Vultures overhead. Confidence headed for the scuppers. Demonstrated by NSW Parliament holding
its own inquiries into Light Rail, WestConnex and the port privatisations. xli

Hence the Minister is wrong.

Mutiny!
A mutiny to redeem the NSW situation where birds of bad omen fill the skies?

No. Proper law-n-order here please. A start is public inquiries into current projects to establish:
motives, effects and costs.

Such inquiries need information from a variety of sources. They need Parliamentary type powers.
They should be independent from project proponents, call evidence, test claims and issue draft
reports for public comment. There should be consequences – the brig? - for those who mislead or
conceal information.

Admiralty jurisdiction
The WestConnex inquiry report might indicate that Parliamentary inquiry was not tough enough.
More on that later.xlii

7
But judicial inquiries? Usually a step too far.

Except for Metro about which there should be suspicions. Its history is curious and aspects of it and
its assessment are inexplicable. Yet it escaped the Opposition’s attention.

Given the infrastructure picnic underway there is a good case for similar processes - public inquiries -
in other States. One stand out candidate is Melbourne’s mooted $100bn rail loop. Another is road
etc. lobby influences on transport policy and decisions. xliii

When Commonwealth support is sought, its Parliament should satisfy itself a public inquiry has been
undertaken. If one has not been undertaken, the Senate should initiate one.

Neither hair nor otiose

What of the independent advisers – Infrastructure Australia, Infrastructure NSW etc. who
Governments imply presently deal with the issue?

They might help Parliamentary inquiries and plans. To do so they need to be more open and less
reliant on Government sources of information. To do that they should be reformed into standard
statutory authorities rather than corporate entities. The Commonwealth’s Productivity Commission
or the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal are models.

The NSW Transport Minister might consider such ideas to be ‘hairbrained’. So what?

It is much more important for the public to know whether his projects are ‘hare-brained’ – impatient,
ill-considered reactions with tremendous adverse consequences.

Proper, independent and public consideration is neither hair-brained nor otiose.

Aplomb-shell
Capping-off the picnic in Paradise are two reports confirming the known.

Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday Monday 10, 2018: ‘Growth surge makes network fragile’. That
being the Sydney Train rail network.xliv

Said the Minister:

‘our focus was to provide more capacity during the peak to key areas where it was needed most’.

He was referring only to the 2017 timetable change. Avoiding the bolt that would have struck if he
mentioned his ‘amazing light’ – ‘Oh-No! ©’ - which is adding capacity where not needed and
probably decreasing it where capacity is needed. Quite apart from wrecking the existing network.

His comment guilty too of a sin of omission. If his Government had spent a fraction of the Metro bill
on either improving Sydney Trains network, or putting a rapid transit system in the right place, such
network fragility – to be with us as far as the eye can see – would now be over.

Later in the day came an aplomb-shell. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
commenced litigation against NSW Ports for what it claims are anti-competitive, illegal restrictions on

8
Newcastle port re a container terminal – a cap on container movements beyond which it would
effectively pay its competitors a penalty via the NSW Government. xlv

Yet another triumph for NSW and national freight policy both of which, with assiduous negligence,
looked the other way when confronted with this policy SPAD. Shame on all involved. xlvi

The restriction on Newcastle originated from the State Government during the port privatisations.
You might recall the current Premier being ‘careful’ not to tell Parliament of its existence. xlvii

Credit to the Newcastle Herald for not believing anything the Government said, Mr Cameron for
keeping on the issue, and to Newcastle Port and its management for advancing plans for a terminal.
While claims of cutting 750,000 truck movements in Sydney might be a little hard to credit, no doubt
it would make a difference to inner-Sydney traffic and the future of Newcastle.

The inner-Sydney truck movement issue reared its ugly head soon after - reports of a tragic accident
of a B-double running into a bus stop in inner Sydney. A one-off, for the moment.
Another event of shame for the freight policy club – not just their anti-competition chapter - but
those who zealously ignored public policy principles and the implied need for dedicated inner city
freight routes.xlviii

The Competition Commission Chair reportedly said the Newcastle case may take a couple of years to
resolve. Nonetheless one can imagine a scramble in NSW – and elsewhere – to ascertain whether
other privatisation / PPP ‘arrangements’ may also attract the attention of the authorities.

Even Mr Ross Gittins AM in the SMH has been moved to condemn the arrangements. xlix

The Premier offered with aplomb: ‘we stand by those decisions’ (to impose the restrictions) and ‘are
looking forward to the outcome’.l

Which to you sounds odd – until you recall the story about a Government lending $0.5bn to a party
related to a $1bn (or so) lawsuit against it. Then it sounds just right.

And other NSW Government comments? This picnic edition, like previous episodes, demonstrates
some of its members are a bit hard to follow. Is there any point listening? Except to the Deputy
Premier. Whose public position is (again) diametrically opposed to the Premier. He is backing a
Newcastle container terminal. Page 3 said we’d hear from him again. li

Picnic
That’s just a sample from the picnic hamper:
 highway to hell;
 panto – boo the migrants, cheer the Magic Train;
 Midas touch NSW style;
 M’Naghten - insanity the defence;
 fear, loathing, spelling mistakes – anything to avoid public disclosure;
 more shame for freight policy;
 Deputy continues to contradict the Premier.

All their own work. And ours? Public inquiries please to slow down the idiocy.

Time to conclude our little pome:

The queue outside the Treasury

9
No, they’re not seeking any loan
They lobby quite incessantly
Facetime and on the phone

Beneath the leaves where nobody reads

In thousand-page subs of partisan pleas
Infrastructure seeks an election picnic

Picnic time for big projects

Efficiency and small stuff taken out of play
Here comes a great big strategy
And this time high-speed rail must be on the way
Your taxes are spent on the feast
With plenty ’o snouts and trotters in the cash
You may call ‘outcomes’ white elephants but pols really know
Along with burn will come a mighty slash.

They may be all white elephants, a terrible waste of dough

But the club had a wonderful bash.

All the best for Xmas and the New Year.

20 December 2018

10
i Daily Telegraph, October 22, 2018. Page 3.

ii https://www.2gb.com/its-a-stuff-up-spanish-company-behind-botched-light-rail-awarded-new-government-contract/

iii https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/how-mp-andrew-constance-saved-his-daughter-zara-in-crash/news-
story/c551dcc78f06a8e3f3370ea8712b40fa?sv=3b36f25f2500df413bbf0bda9ed53e1f

iv Author: Mr Maurice Newman AC. https://www.thejadebeagle.com/infrastructure-paradise---little-turtle.html.

v https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/you-won-t-get-a-single-cent-labor-stands-firm-on-stadium-cash-20181126-p50ien.html

vi https://www.2gb.com/breathtaking-ignorance-scg-trust-member-alan-jones-responds-to-labors-no-stadium-plan/

vii https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/todd-greenberg-threatens-to-take-nrl-grand-final-interstate-if-labor-
abandons-stadium-rebuild/news-story/777c2758e0f2c81cb3fde070aaa345ff?nk=805ed289565d8d1c80d9403def6a8113-
1544855026

viii http://www.eraofthebiff.com/memorable-matches-from-the-biff-era/1973_grand_final-_manly_-v-_cronulla_-
_toughest_gf_of_them_all

ix https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/channel-9-takes-unprecedented-step-of-calling-out/news-
story/fb10e6da93122c5ee7e831ca7318c0fc The cricket is on Channel 7.

x Chair: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/if-you-think-the-hue-and-cry-about-stadiums-is-over-think-again-20181207-p50kwd.html.
He should have said ‘Buckley’s’ in homage to long term rugby league administrator Bill Buckley OBE boss of the Australian Rugby
league for years and sporting hall of fame member inducted in 1989. Buckley was also a long term SCG Trustee.
https://www.sahof.org.au/hall-of-fame/member-profile/?memberID=260&memberType=general
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/state-election-allianz-stadium-sfs-demolition-20181205-p50kch.html

xi https://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/tv/2013/12/27/analogue-tv-moments-graham-kennedy-banned/
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/i-will-not-be-bullied-daley-holds-firm-on-stadiums-policy-20181202-p50jpa.html

xii https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l482T0yNkeo

xiii Britspert = British expert.

https://www.nsw.gov.au/improving-nsw/projects-and-initiatives/a-fast-rail-future-for-nsw/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-04/fast-rail-given-green-light-by-berejiklian-without-commonwealth/10580658

xiv Fabrications include:

‘Read expert advice’ directs the reader to the credentials of an expert adviser. At present there apparently is no expert
advice :https://static.nsw.gov.au/Fast-rail/1543351718/Expert-advice-on-fast-rail.pdf
The south-Goulburn crawler?: Travel time for high speed rail Sydney-Goulburn (around 180km) is the same as Goulburn-Canberra
(around 90km), implying half-high-speed rail on the latter
Faster rail Goulburn-Canberra is ludicrously slow; still well over one hour, compared with an hour and a half on antique tracks today.
The Nowra flier? Travel time for high speed rail Sydney-Wollongong (around 80km) is the same as Goulburn-Canberra (see above)
yet beyond Wollongong – on the route to Nowra – its travel time is halved, meaning its speed is doubled (quadrupled when
compared with ‘faster rail’ between Wollongong and Nowra.

xv Daily Telegraph, 5 December 2018.

Annual traducement being some of the ‘Bradfield oration’ such as the 2017 vision for ‘three cities’ (divided by transport systems),
the opposite to what Bradfield sought. And while ‘visionaries’ might meet and consider the oration provides an opportunity to
reflect on Bradfield’s legacy, https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2017/10/25/sydney-visionaries-celebrate-the-legacy-of-
john-bradfield.html nothing is said about undoing that legacy by rail tunnels far smaller than Bradfield wanted that may preclude
effective access from much of the metropolitan area to the city.

xvi John Laws, 4 December 2018.

xvii The Australian, 4 December 2018.

xviii https://www.thejadebeagle.com/rail-gun---the-hamilton-dawdler.html
Current ‘business case’: https://infrastructure.gov.au/rail/trains/faster_rail/index.aspx
xix https://www.sbs.com.au/news/labor-renews-push-for-high-speed-rail-link
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/faster-rail-services-on-the-agenda-for-state-and-federal-elections-20181203-p50jvk.html

xxhttps://www.thejadebeagle.com/high-speed-rail---a-note.html
https://www.thejadebeagle.com/high-speed-rail---where-to.html
https://www.thejadebeagle.com/higher-speed-rail-why-newcastle.html

xxi http://worldstories.org.uk/stories/dick-whittington-and-his-cat/
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/leave-it-out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaZZY7CCK1A

xxii https://www.tripsavvy.com/panto-season-1661668

xxiii As smoke comes out your ears, as you prepare to blast the beagle consider the following table.
xxiii City/Region xxiiiPopulation xxiiiDistance to State capital km xxiii‘Density’
000
xxiiiCentral Coast xxiii325 xxiii75 xxiii4.3
Newcastle & Lake Macquarie 525 160 3.5
xxiiiWollongong xxiii300 xxiii80 xxiii3.8
Nowra 35 160 0.2
xxiiiGeelong xxiii190 xxiii75 xxiii2.6
xxiiiCanberra xxiii410 xxiii270 xxiii1.5
Bowral area 40 140 0.3
Goulburn 23 190 0.1
xxiiiBallarat xxiii100 xxiii110 xxiii0.9
xxiiiBendigo xxiii100 xxiii150 xxiii0.6
xxiiiBathurst & Orange xxiii75 xxiii230 xxiii0.3

xxiv https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105695/characters/nm0000432

xxv https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Cliff_Bridge

xxvi https://mysydneycbd.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/user-files/uploads/rail-future-web.pdf

xxvii https://www.thejadebeagle.com/the-dog-that-didnt-bark.html

xxviii Sh.tfingers, forthcoming.

xxix See note xvii (above).

xxx Readers of the jade beagle’s toucheth not the monorail series will recall ‘educational’ material produced for school students by,
and extolling the virtues of, Metro.

xxxi https://www.thejadebeagle.com/dogs-breakfast-for-all.html
xxxii https://www.thejadebeagle.com/western-sydney-rail-response.html

xxxiii An exaggeration. Britain, the island might, continue, but the UK? https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-
45779663

xxxiv https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/news-and-events/media-releases/fast-rail-network-to-transform-australia

xxxv See note xxxi (above).

xxxvi https://www.nswlabor.org.au/judicial_inquiry_into_westconnex_and_the_sydney_light_rail
https://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/story/5764083/no-inquiries-needed-for-projects-nsw-govt/?cs=9397

xxxvii see note xxxvi (above).

xxxviii See, for example: note xxxi (above) and https://www.thejadebeagle.com/new-in-paradise.html

https://www.thejadebeagle.com/sydney-2-exhibit-2-toucheth-not-the-monorail.html etc.

xxxix Relevantly independent being independent from potential beneficiaries; see:

https://www.thejadebeagle.com/governance.html

xl https://www.thejadebeagle.com/wonderland-glory-and-evaluation.html
https://www.thejadebeagle.com/earth-to-canberra-2.html

xli https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inquiries/Pages/inquiry-details.aspx?pk=2492
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inquiries/Pages/inquiry-details.aspx?pk=2497
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inquiries/Pages/inquiry-details.aspx?pk=2516

xlii The impact of the WestConnex Project, Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee December 17, 2018. To
be reviewed by the beagle later.

xliii https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/28/massive-melbourne-suburban-train-loop-pledged-by-victorian-
government

xliv Sydney Morning Herald, 10 December 2018.

xlv https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-takes-action-against-nsw-ports
xlvi SPAD: signal passed at danger, railway terminology for a train passing a red light. Can cause a train wreck.
Even more farcical than the studious neglect of the issue is the introduction to the NSW freight policy – NSW Freight and Ports Plan
2018-2023 A call to action for government… https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects/strategy/nsw-freight-and-ports-plan. A call
for inaction or to hide re the Newcastle restriction might be more accurate.
With the Newcastle litigation underway, the ‘plan’ can be considered to have lasted all of two months. It took a fundamentally
mistaken view of the role of government – which it contradicted on p.48, didn’t mention the Government’s restriction among the
‘constraints’ on Newcastle port diversification, strangely highlighted a cruise terminal – irrelevant unless passengers are freight on
legs, said a diverted line from Fassifern will remove most of the freight trains from the urban area – which it won’t even remotely do
e.g. coal, and said in its attempted response to public comments in support of a Newcastle container terminal:
‘The NSW Government policy position is that Port Kembla has been identified as the location for the development of a
future container terminal to augment capacity of Port Botany when required. Current arrangements do not prohibit the
development of a container terminal at the Port of Newcastle but rather allow for the growth of container volumes
through Newcastle that service the region.’
Let’s hope NSW has something better to offer the court when it is called to give evidence.
Onto the Commonwealth / Ministerial Council; their ‘experts’ report into supply chain priorities failed to mention Newcastle or the
port restriction. https://infrastructure.gov.au/transport/freight/freight-supply-chain-priorities/files/Inquiry_Report.pdf.
This is not for want of it being drawn to their attention in theory and practice e.g. https://www.thejadebeagle.com/freight-and-
logistics.html.
The Commonwealth’s amazing approach to freight inspired the beagle to produce the Chainsaw series e.g.
https://johnmenadue.com/john-austen-australian-freight-policy-where-is-my-chainsaw-part2/ and more direct calls
https://johnmenadue.com/john-austen-newcastle-port-restriction-action-not-words-please/.
That the ACCC has felt the need to litigate to deal with a lay down misere freight policy issue not mentioned by officials is an
indictment on the ‘efforts’ of all involved in ‘national’ freight policy.

xlvii https://johnmenadue.com/john-menadue-newcastle-port-another-botched-privatisation-a-repost-from-5-september-2016/

xlviii https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/multiple-people-injured-after-major-truck-crash-in-sydney-20181212-p50lo5.html

xlix https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-experts-told-us-not-to-worry-20181211-p50lgs.html

l https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-11/accc-launches-legal-challenge-over-kembla-and-newcastle-ports/10604288

li https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/barilaro-publicly-backs-newcastle-container-terminal-despite-policies-20181021-
p50azf.html